UDC Finance Limited
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UDC Finance Limited is a finance company in New Zealand. UDC's main expertise is in providing asset-backed finance for plant, vehicles and equipment, where they do not rely on land or buildings as security. UDC also offers a range of investment products such as secure term investments and call accounts. Combined with Esanda Finance, its Australian partner, UDC is the 15th largest finance company in the world.
UDC Finance is a wholly owned, independently operated subsidiary of the ANZ National Bank Limited (ANZ does not guarantee UDC's investments).
The dominant figure in the early days of UDC was Otto Heymann, a German banker who came to New Zealand at the age of 50 after fleeing Nazi Germany. He was an eminently qualified banker holding a PhD from Heidelberg University, and being then the Deputy General Manager of the Dresden Bank - the second largest of the big three German banks at the time.
In 1951, the company became known as United Dominions Corporation (South Pacific) Limited under London-based United Dominions Trust Ltd. As a foreign-owned company, its ability to expand was limited by government regulation. In the 1960s the government relaxed regulations of trading banks and finance houses, allowing United Dominions Trust to sell 20% of its shares to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group in 1965.
The relationship between ANZ and UDC continued to grow. In 1980, ANZ bought all the shares in the company that it did not already own; giving UDC shareholders ANZ shares in exchange. UDC then became a wholly owned subsidiary of ANZ Banking Group (New Zealand) Ltd and was delisted from the stock exchange.[1]
